Thursday, January 23, 2014

City of Long Beach Agrees to Pay man 0ver $350,000 for Police Abuses

The city agrees to a settlement after a jury finds that officers
arrested Perry Grays without probable cause and used excessive and
unreasonable force against him.

The city of Long Beach will pay $380,000 to a man who was Tasered and
beaten with flashlights by police when he asked for a badge number.

A jury found that
officers had arrested Perry Grays without probable cause and used
excessive and unreasonable force against him, and awarded him $441,000.
On Tuesday, the City Council approved the negotiated settlement amount
and said it would not appeal the verdict.Grays, a married father of three who worked as a security guard,
filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city and five officers who
responded to a noise complaint at his home on Feb. 6, 2011.Two of Grays' downstairs
neighbors had hosted Super Bowl parties that evening, which prompted a
noise complaint, said one of Grays' attorneys, Kaveh Navab.When Long Beach police arrived at the apartment building about 11
p.m., Grays was listening to music with a friend. Officer Salvador
Alatorre pounded on Grays' window with a flashlight and yelled at him to
turn his music down, according to court documents.Grays complied, the complaint states, but Alatorre again knocked on the window.When Grays asked for the officer's badge number, Alatorre yelled to
Grays, "Come on down if you want it," according to the complaint.Outside, Grays repeated his request for the officer's badge number but Alatorre refused, the complaint says.Alatorre then allegedly used a Taser on Grays multiple times, causing
him to fall to the ground and lose control of his bladder and bowels.
Other officers responding to the scene also beat Grays with flashlights
as he screamed for them to stop, according to the complaint.Long Beach police said Grays was hostile and threatening and refused to give officers his identification.According to Deputy City Atty. Howard Russell, who represented Long
Beach and the officers in the case, Grays was "right in the officers'
face" and at one point allegedly kicked his legs at them as they tried
to take him into custody."He was obstructing the officers doing their duties, and he posed a
threat to them, and they used reasonable force to deal with the
situation," Russell said.During the skirmish, guests and neighbors attending the parties below
Grays' apartment called 911 to complain about the officers' conduct,
Navab said, and several testified during the civil trial."Mr. Grays presented no threat," Navab said. "He was calm with them.
He was without shoes, he had a used envelope in one hand and a Sharpie
in another, asking for a badge number."Grays was taken to a hospital and later booked on suspicion of making
threats against police officers and resisting a peace officer in the
lawful execution of his duties.He was released from jail two days later, and all charges were eventually dropped, Navab said."This case represents an instance of the officers escalating
something that really did not need to be escalated," Navab said. "This
is the kind of case that could happen to anybody."Grays, who was 24 at the time of the incident, filed a lawsuit in September 2011.In addition to Alatorre, the other officers involved in the incident
were identified in court records as Alvino Herrera, George Evans, Daisy
Ortiz Paul and Roderick Tith. Ortiz Paul and Tith were later dropped
from the suit.The Long Beach Police Department did not respond to requests for
comments. It is unknown if the officers faced any discipline from the
incident.Russell said he could not speak about personnel matters.